Any doubt as to whether there will be future ward closures at Mayo General Hospital was clarified this week when the director of operations of HSE west confirmed that there will definitely be ward closures in all public hospitals in the future.
This would not mean, however, that patient care would be reduced as bed numbers is an incorrect measure for assessing hospital performance, according to HSE West director of operations John Hennessy.
The issue was raised by Galway member Cllr Mary Hoade, at the HSE AGM this week who railed against the closure of 114 beds in the city’s hospital since the beginning of the year and demanded to know what would happen over the next six months.
Mr Hennessy stated that despite the bed closures, the hospital was “well ahead” in regard to inpatient and day patient care.
“Inpatient bed numbers is not the best currency for valuing the efficiency of the health service,” he said. “Of course beds are required for treatment but they are over-using this resource without corresponding benefits for patients. There is rationalisation of beds taking place in hospitals worldwide and I am quite certain there will be more bed closures in hospitals as requirements dictate. What we need to do is move away from bed numbers as a measure of performance in order to avoid vast amounts of time spent in A&E and other departments. What you will see is prominence given to day care and ambulatory care because you can treat far more patients this way. ”
Cllr Hoade countered that bed availability was hugely important, as a caller to the local radio station highlighted during the week. The woman in question, who was in labour but refused entry to hospital due to there being no bed, was offered a bedroom instead, on air, by one of the city hotels. Must it come to this instead, she wanted to know.
Promising to follow up on that particular case, Mr Hennessy said the problem was that 30 per cent of those attending at A&E were admitted to hospital and this system of referral in turn impacted on bed availability.
“We know we can do better and that hospitals can discharge people quicker,” he said. “What I can say with certainty is that there will be further bed closures in public hospitals this year.”
He added that there would also be many other cutbacks in health services and that all temporary contracts across the region are being looked at as well including home help and A&E services.
onths an accumulated overspend of €37.8 million by all hospitals was recorded and managers are under contract to “break even” by the end of 2010.
HSE chair Padraig Conneely commented, “It seems to me we are going to have a horrendous year. We are in a crisis. We are in chaos and this is going to involve patients, people and lives. I cannot see where the light will be at the end of the tunnel — only more suffering”.
